Discussion of 'Hydraulic Principles of the 2,268-Year-Old Dujiangyan Project in China'

摘要

The Dujiangyan Project is an outstanding water conservancy project that was built in ancient times and that is still alive today. The project recently achieved the Hydraulic Engineering Heritage Award at the 35th International Association for Hydro-Environment Engineering and Research (IAHR) World Congress. The Dujiangyan Project is the perfect reflection of the theory that humankind is an integral part of nature. The project ingeniously conforms to conditions of nature and law and adequately exhibits the wisdom of the ancients. Therefore, the project may have been in operation for more than 2,260 years and still plays an important role in, for example, irrigation and flood control. The authors emphasized the engineering design and operational principles of the Dujiangyan Project. The reasons for the longevity of the project were also discussed on the basis of its historical development and maintenance. The authors systematically and methodically introduced the functions of three primary projects and the dynamic water diversion process. Readers were then able to clearly understand the principle of water diversion and sediment discharge for the Min River. They also acquired ingenious cooperation among three primary projects.